Francis remembers 3 year old toddler murdered by the mafia: “He’s in heaven with Jesus” now

At today’s Angelus the Pope’s thoughts went to tiny Nicola Campolongo whose body was found in a torched car in Cosenza, southern Italy, last week: "Let us pray for these people who have committed this crime, that they repent and be converted"

GIACOMO GALEAZZIvatican city

“My thoughts go to Coco Campolongo, the three year old whose body was burn in a car in Cassano allo Ionio. The anger taken out on this tiny boy seems unprecedented in the history of criminality,” the Pope said today, in his cry against mafia clans. “Let us pray with Coco - he said - who without any doubt is in heaven with Jesus, for these people who have committed this crime, that they repent and be converted,” the Pope said during this Sunday’s Angelus.

Among those who attended today’s Angelus, was a group of 120 young people who came all the way from Italy’s Le Marche region. Many of them claim they returned to the faith and approached the sacraments again because of Pope Francis. “These are the spiritual fruits of a pontificate that speaks to everyone and manages to reach the hearts of those who are far from the faith,” said Silvia Simoncini, President of Iuter Club a Catholic youth association in Osimo, in the Italian province of Ancona. The association was responsible for organising the young people’s pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Square.

The Pope’s words were received with great rounds of applause and stadium-like cheering. “God prefers to begin from the outskirts, from the least among us to then reach out to everyone". This was the Pope's Angelus reflection on the Gospel this Sunday that recounts the beginning of Jesus' public life in the towns and villages of Galilee, AsiaNews reports. “He teaches us a method, his method, but it expresses a content, the Father's mercy.”

Jesus’ mission does not start in Jerusalem, that is, the religious, social and political centre, but from the periphery, “among people of a 'low-profile', so to speak. “It is a border land, a transit area, where people of different race, culture and religion meet. Galilee becomes the symbolic place for the opening of the Gospel to all peoples. From this point of view, Galilee is similar to the world today: the coexistence of different cultures, the need for encounter and confrontation.”

“Jesus begins his mission not only from a decentralized place, but also among people of a 'low-profile', so to speak. He choose for his future apostles and the first disciples, not among scholars, scribes and doctors of the law, but to the humble and simple people, who are preparing in earnest for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus calls them where they work, on the shore of the lake where they are fishing. He calls them, and they immediately follow. They leave their nets and go with Him, their lives become an extraordinary and fascinating adventure.”

We, too, are immersed every day in a ' Galilee of the Gentiles ‘, and in this context we may become afraid and give in to the temptation to build fences to feel safer, more protected. Yet Jesus teaches us that the Good News is not reserved for a certain section of humanity, it is for everyone. It is Good News destined for those who are waiting to receive it, but also to those who perhaps are not waiting for anything and who do not even have the strength to seek and ask for it. Starting from Galilee, Jesus teaches us that no one is excluded from God's salvation.”

But the most moving moment of the whole Angelus came after the Marian prayer, when Francis turned his thoughts to Nicolo Campolongo, the three year old toddle nicknamed Coco, who was murdered by the mafia last Sunday morning in Cassano allo Ionio, in the southern Italian province of Cosenza. His burnt body was found inside a torched car, alongside the bodies of his grandfather and a 27-year-old woman. “There are children present in St. Peter’s Square today and I would like to turn my thoughts to Coco Campolongo, the three year old who was murdered and burnt in a car. The anger taken out on this tiny boy seems unprecedented in the history of criminality.” Coco is “without any doubt is in heaven with Jesus.” The Pope prayed that those who committed this terrible crime would “repent” and “convert”.

The Angelus with the Pope ended with two young children from Catholic Action Rome reading out a message and releasing two white doves of peace into the air, a symbolic gesture carried out every year at the conclusion of the "Caravan of Peace". This year, the “Caravan of Peace” raised money for projects in Haiti.

The Pope wished everyone a pleasant Sunday and an enjoyable lunch, sharing some jokes and laughs with young people before leaving the Square. Before this, Francis also spared a thought for leprosy sufferers and the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese people who are preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year.